Description

Early in February 1934, two and a half months after the end of prohibition, Jack Sindler sat with a friend in Boston's Ritz Hotel bar enjoying a drink. Sindler worked for the Converse Rubber Co., and he was always inventing something. He held several patents for rubber products and processes, and he had already filed patents in the area of thermoplastics, where new compounds were just being developed. While enjoying his martini, Sindler tried to grab the olive using his fingers. It was then that he hit on the idea of a harpoon-like barbed spear to make the retrieval easier. With this eureka invention of the swizzle stick, Sindler took the first steps toward creating a company that would grow to employment of 200 and revenues of $12 million by the turn of the century. This case details many of the twists and turns that Sindler and his successors faced, including introduction of new products and processes, entry into new markets, acquisitions, and managerial succession. Presents a history of a company, showing much of the complexity that its general managers faced.

Learning objective:

Provides students with a profile of a single company and the dynamic processes involved in running and growing an enduring enterprise.